50 Books in 2012 - January Recap

I have always loved to read. When I was younger, I loved the Boxcar Children books, the Babysitter's Club series and especially, the Laura Ingalls Wilder series. Any vacation would provide me the opportunity to read through several books during the week, and I gladly spent hours with my nose stuck in a book. My sister and I perfected the skill of trolling for walleyes while reading books on the Ord River in Ontario, Canada.

I love books.

When I was making my 2012 goals, I wanted to set a few personal ones, in addition to the business goals I set for myself. One of my personal goals for this year is to read 50 books. It doesn't matter the type of book: business, mystery, romance, self-help... whatever the genre, these will be books that I get to read for fun, for me.

In January, I read these 5 books:

October Fest by Jess Lourey

*This book is the 6th book in the Murder by Month series by Jess Lourey. I stumbled upon this series at my library when I read all the books written by two authors in the same aisle, and needed to find new material to read. I am so glad I found this series. The books are set in rural Minnesota, and are full of Minnesota humor.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

I am a little late to the game in reading this book. I actually saw the movie earlier this year and loved it. Typically, I read the books first, but I loved the movie so much, I wanted to give the book a try. This is the one book/movie set that I think are equally good. The book is amazingly written and I was captivated the whole time. Plus, having seen the movie before, I had a better visual of the characters than if I was making them up in my mind. It's hard for me to believe those things in the book happened in the early 1960's. My parents were kids then; it wasn't that long ago!

The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks

I'm a long time fan of Nicholas Sparks books, and of his movies too. I got this book from my mother-in-law, after she had bought and read it. I loved this book. It was raw, real, and because it dealt with high school sweethearts, it tugged at my heartstrings especially much. The book ended in the typical Laura-with-a-soggy kleenex fashion, like most of his books do. A definite must read.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

This book has been out for a long time now, and I don't know why I just got around to reading it now. I was a little skeptical of whether I could get into it or not, because I have a hard time with fantasy, sci fi, non-realistic stuff. I thought this book was going to be more like Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, but I had clearly never read the blurb for the book. I LOVED this book. I couldn't put it down. The circus has never been more intriguing to me and I was fascinated by everything in the book. I haven't seen the movie yet, but it is now on our Netflix queue.

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.

This book is from 2002 and I know there's a movie out now too. I haven't seen it yet, and am not sure if I will. I heard mixed reviews about it. This book was heart-wrenching. The opening sentence for this book just hooks you and pulls you right in. I couldn't put it down and read voraciously for 2 days straight. As I read the last several chapters, I felt a sad longing in my heart, for Susie because of the crime that took place. For her family, to have to learn to carry on without her, learning to let go. I dreamt about the book all night last night, and honestly, didn't sleep very well. Only the most well written and moving books do that to me.

I've got a stack of books waiting for me to read them, so I'll be continuing with these recaps as I move through my 50 [or more] books in 2012. Do you have any great books you've just read? I'd love some recommendations!